Bolton Wanderers vs Fulham. Sky Bet Championship.
University of Bolton StadiumAttendance14,386.
Saturday 10 February 2018 18:53, UK
Substitute Adam Le Fondre ended Fulham's bid for a sixth successive Sky Bet Championship victory with a second-half equaliser to earn Bolton a 1-1 draw at the Macron Stadium.
On-loan Southampton defender Matt Targett gave Slavisa Jokanovic's visitors a fifth-minute lead with his first ever league goal.
Stefan Johansen hit the post late on but the in-form Londoners - now unbeaten in nine games - couldn't build on an electrifying start as Le Fondre punished them with a spectacular goal two minutes after coming on.
Fulham started superbly as Ryan Sessegnon crossed deep from the Fulham left, Lucas Piazon headed back across goal and an unmarked Targett headed in from four yards.
The Londoners should have doubled their advantage two minutes later when David Wheater's error left Rui Fonte one-on-one with Ben Alnwick but the keeper's legs came to Wanderers' rescue.
Targett was the recipient of a crude tackle by Mark Little that brought the Bolton right-back a 17th-minute caution.
Eventually, Bolton discovered an attacking edge and Zach Clough tested Marcus Bettinelli for the first time. The on-loan Nottingham Forest striker cut in from the left before unleashing a fierce angled right-foot drive that Bettinelli pushed over the crossbar.
A series of injury stoppages disrupted Fulham's flow and Bolton almost capitalised 11 minutes from half time.
Sammy Ameobi superbly controlled a long ball from the back on the edge of the Fulham area before teeing up Clough, but with only Bettinelli to beat from 16 yards, he struck his attempt straight at the keeper.
Karl Henry received the second Bolton yellow card from referee Robert Jones before Dorian Dervitte blocked a Sessegnon shot just before half-time.
A double change early in the second half should have brought immediate dividends for Fulham. Aleksander Mitrovic and Aboubaker Kamara replaced Piazon and Fonte after 51 minutes with Kamara failing to convert Stefan Johansen's cross from five yards with his first touch.
Wanderers also introduced a brace of newcomers after 59 minutes, taking off Clough and Little for Le Fondre and Felipe Morais.
The switch instantly pay-off. There seemed little danger when Le Fondre collected the ball on the left edge of the Fulham area, but his instant left-foot volley flew over Bettinelli's head for his first goal since the opening day of the season.
Bolton continued to rattle the visitors with Josh Vela narrowly firing over from distance and Ameobi having a goal disallowed for a foul on Bettinelli.
Fulham finished on top as Mitrovic flashed a right-footed effort narrowly wide in the closing stages and headed straight at Alnwick while Johansen's brilliant cross-field run deserved better than to strike the woodwork.
Phil Parkinson: "He is a great sub. He doesn't want to be known as just a good sub. But it is important if he is on the bench, he comes off and makes an impact like he did.
"Games can be won and lost from the substitutes' bench. I think he has the record for Premier League goals off the bench when he was at Reading.I have spoken to Alf throughout the season that if he is the sub we need him to give us a lift like he did."
Slavisa Jokanovic: "We came here with the intention to win the game. We started the game well and after we scored the first goal we could have scored a second. We dominated the game, especially in the first half but didn't score the second goal. Bolton took a risk and played out of the back, two against two, three against three.
"But we didn't exploit these spaces and couldn't get the second goal. We created enough chances though in the first and second halves to win the game. Rui Fonte had one against one, Aboubakar (Kamara) had one against one, (Aleksandar) Mitrovic too. You can't dominate though for 90 minutes. In my opinion we didn't play the perfect game but we did enough to win."
